BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Based on the questions justices asked,
it was a divided Supreme Court today that heard oral arguments in a landmark
case that could redefine marriage across the United States to include same-sex
unions.

Tuesday's case comes from California where in 2008 citizens
voted to define marriage as between a man and a woman. That result is being
challenged by gay couples.

The
Los Angeles Times found today's questioning by justices to be at times sharp
but to also indicate that a majority of the court could be leaning toward striking
down the California law or, in what would be a far more narrow ruling, sending
the case back to the appeals court which had struck down the law after voters
approved it. Such a decision would likely result in the resumption of same-sex
marriages in Californian but would not grant a broad constitutional right to
gay couples to marry anywhere in the U.S.

The
New York Times found the justices concerned about moving too fast and too soon
when it comes to defining marriage as something more than an institution
between a man and a woman. But the Times also noted that the court showed a
sharp but close division over the issue with, as usual, Justice Anthony M.
Kennedy seemingly holding the pivotal fifth vote. And, the Times noted that
Kennedy seemed ready to strike the California law by either a decision of the
high court or by letting the appeals court ruling stand striking the law down.